Just wondering what goes into your decision to purchase a comic at a comics store? For this question, I am only talking about buying a comic off the rack at the comics shop, please.

How important is:

The cover?

The artwork?

The writer’s name?

The publisher?

The genre?

The lead character (s)?

Whether or not the story is an ‘event’ comic?

I’m on a budget, so I can only get so many comics per month in order of priority.

If I’ve been getting a comic and it’s been great, I’ll keep getting it.

There are a few creators who are stand up folk and if they have something out, I get it.

If word of mouth (tumblr, twitter, the late Comics Alliance) says it’s something special instead of generic and punchy, it’s next.

Then, if the cover has a character I really like in a context I like them in, I flip through the comic and they actually have a significant role (instead of, say, appearing in the big reveal on the last page).

Finally, I buy Magic cards.

I’m largely indifferent to artwork and publishers. Yeah, I admit the art thing is awful given the medium, but I just don’t have a developed sense of it. There are leads I like, but those really fall under the first priority. Who cares how great Deadpool was three years ago; it’s the current creative team/story that needs to draw me in.

Event comics result in 15 extra Magic cards, usually overriding all other factors.

I believe that there are a small group of women who hate men just for being men. I believe that the textbook definition of the word misandry fits that description. I believe there are bad things that happen to men. I believe those issues should be addressed. I do not believe that a fringe group of women who hate men can be blamed for those issues.

Misandry was a dead word until recently. A group of men who feared the progress of feminism revived the word and used it to undercut the movement. They like having the power being a man provides and they don’t want to lose that. So they created a movement, found a bunch of legitimate issues that affect men, and tried to blame women for those issues. They called this misandry. It’s like conservatives using buzzwords like “death panels” to make people fear health care. They let people assume it meant Obama wanted to kill your grandma. They let their cute little phrase infect the minds of good people and convince them of falsehoods.

People are telling me that men cannot report rape without getting laughed at. They say this is misandry. It is the fault of women who hate men. But that just doesn’t make any sense to me. When I seek a logical explanation, it seems more likely that this is because men are supposed to be strong and women are supposed to be weak. And rape has been viewed as something that happens mostly to women. So if it does happen to a man, they must be weak. How did this idea of men=strong and women=weak start? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because of misandry. It is an ancient patriarchy collapsing in on itself.

Feminism is about fighting inequality. It’s about erasing the strong/weak perception ingrained into our society. Misandry, as the term is often used today, is about trying to blame women for anything bad that happens to men.

If you want to fight to fix issues that affect men, go for it. But I would really consider distancing yourself from this term. It is used to evangelize folks into a movement that is very problematic. A group that can’t handle scrutiny of their comic books and video games, so they send death and rape threats. A group that calls women sluts and think they ask for rape if they show too much cleavage. Those are the people who coined this term, and you should want nothing to do with them or their language.